Kentucky Performing Arts Announces New Board Appointments

Kentucky Performing Arts has announced additions to its Board of Directors. The newest members, who were appointed by Governor Andy Beshear, bring a wealth of corporate, civic and prior board experience to their roles. The following are the newest members of Kentucky Performing Arts board:

• JP Davis is a vision-driven, goal-focused executive with a proven history of innovation and profound fundraising achievement. A strategist and fundraiser with more than 20 years of local and national experience, JP was most previously Senior Vice President at Kentucky's Fund for the Arts. Prior to joining Fund for the Arts, JP directed major gifts and strategic initiatives in the Office of the President at the University of Louisville. A native of Ashland, Kentucky, JP moved to Louisville to pursue higher education, graduating with honors with a BA and MPA from the University of Louisville.

• Hannah L. Drake is a blogger, activist, public speaker, poet and author of 11 books. She serves as the Chief Creative Officer at IDEAS xLab. Hannah writes commentary on politics, feminism and race, and her work has been featured online at Cosmopolitan, The Bitter Southerner, Harper's Bazaar, The Lily and Revolt TV. In 2019, during Super Bowl Sunday, Hannah's poem, "All You Had To Do Was Play The Game, Boy," which addresses the protest by Colin Kaepernick, was shared by film writer, producer and director Ava DuVernay, and then shared by Kaepernick. The poem has been viewed more than two million times. Labeled as a change agent, Hannah believes it is in the uncomfortable spaces that change can take place.

• Robert Klein has been an attorney in private practice in Louisville for over 40 years. Klein has served as president of The Temple, the Action League for Physically Handicapped Adults, the Springs Community Association and other community organizations over his career. He is also an avid photographer (robertkleinimages.com) and arts enthusiast. He is married to Lisa Klein, M.D., a pediatric cardiologist, Associate Professor at the U of L Medical School and clinician with Norton Healthcare. They have five children.

• Joe Leavell has been employed with the Jefferson County Attorney's Office for 31 years in a number of capacities and currently serves as the Assistant Director of the Child Support Division. During his tenure at the Jefferson County Attorney's Office, Joe has been awarded the 2017 Contracting Official Employee of the Year award and was inducted into NCSEAU (National Child Support Enforcement Association University), for which only 40 child support professionals nationwide are selected to study and engage in intense professional development with the nation's foremost industry leaders. Joe is also an accomplished gospel recording artist who has been nominated for 2 Grammy and 2 Stellar Awards

• Sarah Yarmuth is an attorney and manager of a locally-owned small business. A 2009 graduate of the Manhattan School of Music, and a 2013 graduate of the University of Kentucky Rosenberg College of Law, Sarah practiced in both the private and public sectors in Louisville for several years. After welcoming their son in July of 2019, Sarah left the practice of law to assist in her family's business, a preschool that has been owned and operated by her mother and grandmother for 31 years. Sarah lives in the Highlands with her husband, Aaron, and their son, John David ("JD").

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